Rehabilitation therapy for patients with long-term spinal cord injuries
Klose, K.J.; Schmidt, D.L.; Needham, B.M.; Brucker, B.S.; Green, B.A.; Ayyar, D.R.
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 71(9): 659-662
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-9993 PMID: 2375670 Document Number: 362539
The functional effects of three types of therapy for subjects with long-term incomplete cervical spinal cord injuries were investigated. Men and women, aged 18 to 45 years, were assigned to one of four groups using a restricted randomization process. The training period was divided into two consecutive eight-week time blocks where subjects received either (1) supervised physical exercise therapy (PET), (2) neuromuscular stimulation (NMS), or (3) electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback. Group 1 received EMG biofeedback followed by PET; Group 2 received EMG biofeedback followed by NMS; Group 3 received NMS followed by PET; and Group 4 received 16 weeks of PET. Dependent measures (manual muscle tests, self-care scores, mobility measures, and voluntary EMG activity) were assessed before training, at eight weeks, and after 16 weeks of training. A significant improvement (p less than .05) across time was found on all dependent measures except voluntary EMG. No difference was found on comparisons between groups.